84 / 116
8 4
E L E C T R I C A L CO N N E C T I O N
A U T UMN 2 0 17
T
here is more to running a tradie
business than simply keeping the
customer happy.
Understanding the legal complexities
around workplace relations compliance
can be confronting for many businesses.
What should you do if an employee turns
up to work under the influence of drugs or
alcohol? Is it legal for the employer to have
surveillance cameras in the workplace?
How do you define ‘appropriate’ behaviour
in the workplace? In this article, we provide
some practical advice to tradie businesses
on how to handle these and other
challenging scenarios when managing
your workforce.
“Fudge buckets! Gosh darn it,
that contractor really is the son of a
mother trucker!”
These are two sentences you are
unlikely to ever hear on a worksite in
Australia. Let’s face it – authentic blue
language is as much a part of the Aussie
site as the smoko or the mid-morning
bacon and egg roll.
Most of us swear to some extent
or another but if you are running a
business that is exactly where the
trouble can start. What is offensive
to one person is totally acceptable to
another. The devil really is in the detail.
So what’s the legal position on
swearing in the workplace? With the
newspapers regularly running stories
of the ‘political correctness gone
mad’ variety, you might be wondering if
it’s even lawful to use swear words in
the workplace these days. The truth
is, the law is a bit more subtle than
that. There is no straightforward ‘one
size fits all’ checklist of what you
can and can’t say in the workplace –
there is no Australian Standard for
appropriate language.
As an employer, you need to make
that call yourself. You need to assess
your workplace and draw a line in
the sand as to what is acceptable or
otherwise. Your organisation needs to
have a Code of Conduct which sets out
expectations around language
and behaviour.
A typical Code of Conduct should
reflect certain obligations as set out
in relevant legislation.
The Fair Work
Act 2009
and the
Work Health
and
Safety Act 2011
are ideal places to
start as they each set the groundwork
for workplace compliance under our
federal legislative framework.
However, you will be pleased to
know that traditional commonsense
also plays an important and prevailing
role when considering what we believe
to be “appropriate” or conversely,
“inappropriate” language in the
workplace. Essentially, it will come
down to what would objectively, or
ordinarily, be considered acceptable
within the peer group.
By way of example, colourful
language that may well be considered
not inappropriate on a construction
site might be considered awfully
inappropriate if it is used in a
professional services firm, such as a
law firm – although the author, having
worked in a number of robust law
offices herself, may beg to differ!
This may sound quite subjective, but
we make these kinds of calls all the
TIPS
THE JOYS OF BEING A BOSS…
Many tradies are also
employers, responsible for not
only managing the day to day
operations of their business,
but also the well-being and
safety of employees. Mills
Oakley special counsel Shelly-
Anne Brace provides guidance
on some common issues.
SWEARING LIKE A TRADIE